Top story: disaster strikes again in Mexico

Good morning to you all, Graham Russell here with a morning brief that could, in all honesty, be twice as long and still not get in all the big news stories happening right now.

Heartrending accounts are emerging from witnesses and survivors after Mexico was struck by its most deadly earthquake in a generation. More than 149 people have been confirmed dead and that toll is continually rising. The US Geological Survey has issued an “orange alert”, warning that up to 1,000 fatalities are likely.

Casandra Hidalgo saw a seven-story block of flats collapse in Mexico City. “It fell to the ground in front of our eyes, people were running everywhere around it, but we’ve been standing here since and no one has come out of the building,” she said. Monica Saavdera’s 87-year-old mother was in the block when the earthquake hit. “I pray that she’s already dead, that she’s not trapped underneath alive,” she said.

Elsewhere in the city, at least 21 children and four adults died when Enrique Rebsámen elementary school collapsed. At least 28 were still missing. You can read the latest developments on our liveblog here.

No Borexit – Boris Johnson has no intention of resigning amid the furore created by a Brexit article widely interpreted as him setting out his leadership stall. The foreign secretary told the Guardian in an exclusive interview: “I am mystified by all this stuff. Not me, guv. I don’t know where it is coming from, honestly. It feels to me like an attempt to keep the great snore-athon story about my article running.”

But Johnson kept the pot boiling on the issue of a soft Brexit, with an eye on Theresa May’s speech in Florence on Friday. He conceded the UK should pay the EU for access to the single market immediately after Brexit but not thereafter. May is expected to say Britain will be willing to continue paying significant sums for two years or more. Any cabinet splits over Brexit, Boris? “We are a nest of singing birds,” he said.

Hurricane Maria heads to Puerto Rico – The category 5 storm is poised to land a direct hit on the already struggling territory of Puerto Rico in what its governor said could be the “worst atmospheric event in a century”. Thousands were displaced as the storm approached, knocking out power to many in the east. In the past 30 minutes the eyewall of the storm has hit the US Virgin Islands, lashing St Croix with maximum sustained wind speeds of 175mph (280km/h). Earlier, six people were reported killed in Dominica, with claims 90% or more of the island’s buildings have been destroyed. Aerial footage shows the devastation. You can read the latest updates on our liveblog here.

‘Housing catastrophe’ – Millennials are spending three times more of their income on housing than their grandparents yet often live in worse accommodation, according to a report by former Tory minister David Willetts. The 18- to 36-year-olds typically spend over a third of their post-tax income on rent, or about 12% on mortgages, yet are more likely to live in overcrowded and smaller spaces, and face longer journeys to work.

Russia angry at Death of Stalin – A black comedy directed by the man behind Veep, Armando Iannucci, about the Soviet dictator has angered Russia’s culture ministry, which said it could be a western plot to destabilise the country. Pavel Pozhigailo said The Death of Stalin was a “planned provocation” and that it was considering banning it.

Lunchtime read: how suburbia stole London fashion week

This is street style, but not as fashion usually knows it: a skirt and top made from linen tea towels at JW Anderson, a silver clutch bag moulded from the shape of a kebab box at Anya Hindmarch, and designer Richard Malone cheerfully naming the colour palette of his dresses after supermarket carrier bags: Tesco blue, Co-op turquoise.

This is street as in ground-level, not street in the sense of being the coolest kids on the block, writes Jess Cartner-Morley. And this is different. Because from its beginnings as a breath-of-fresh-air backlash against the stuffiness of the catwalk, the street-style arm of fashion has over the past few years calcified into a bloodless beauty contest driven by cold, hard cash.

Sport

Jonny Bairstow, in his latest role as a one-day international opening batsman – and wizard boundary fielder – shepherded England to the simplest of victories over West Indies in the first match of the series at Old Trafford. Rio Ferdinand has insisted his move into boxing at 38 is a genuine sporting endeavour and dismissed those who claim it is a PR stunt.

Business

The government has backed tighter rules for takeover bids after the controversial effort by Kraft Heinz to grab Unilever in February. Under new proposals, bidders must provide more detail – including head office location and R&D investment – and give companies, unions and other employee representatives more time to respond to bids.

The papers

The fortunes of Boris Johnson feature prominently on the front pages today – though no appetite for a “Borexit” headline – as well as Donald Trump’s (verbal) attack on North Korea. The need to tackle online extremism also makes the grade.

Photograph: The Guardian

The Guardian leads with “Donald Trump stuns UN with threat to ‘totally destroy’ North Korea” alongside its exclusive interview with Johnson in which he says he’s not going anywhere.

Trump’s bombastic UN speech is taken up by the i, FT, Metro, Express and the Mirror in one way or another. The Mirror folds it into a special report carrying the tale of a North Korea defector.

Johnson’s statement also features on the front of the Daily Telegraph (“Boris backs down from brink”), the Times (“Johnson to back off in Brexit deal with May”) and the Daily Mail (“Boris: Me, quit?”).

The FT leads with Theresa May preparing a €20bn EU budget sweetener to break the impasse and the Mail claims a campaign victory on the sharing of extremist material online. May is to tell tech giants to remove terrorist content within two hours or face legislation.

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